Annie Turnbo Malone

Did you know a Black American woman built a beauty empire and training network that created economic opportunities for tens of thousands—and Madam C. J. Walker worked as a sales agent for her and learned the Poro system before building her own company?

Annie Turnbo Malone was born in 1869 in Metropolis, Illinois, to formerly enslaved parents. Orphaned at a young age, she developed an early passion for styling hair and an understanding that grooming affected how Black women were judged in American society.

Malone experimented with chemistry and developed a line of hair and scalp products advertised to improve scalp health and promote hair growth. Her famous Hair Grower became a cornerstone product. After early success in Illinois, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1902 and founded the Poro College Company.

Poro College was a cosmetics school and training center named after the Poro society of West Africa. Malone trained Poro agents in the Poro system of scalp care and hair styling. Over the company's life, tens of thousands of women and men sold Poro products in the United States and internationally.

Madam C. J. Walker worked as a sales agent for Annie Malone and learned the Poro system before building her own company. Malone died on May 10, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois.